by J. A. Dennam
“I’m stable.”
“After what you did to Sophie, and just now to Frost?” When she didn’t respond he leaned in closer, angled his head. “You’re a danger to us and to yourself. I need you to focus on what’s important.”
Completely unafraid, Rena relaxed against the cushion and waited for the toxin to kick in. “What’s important, as in… giving you what you want?”
“Precisely. With your bullet, my skill, and Frost’s lab, I can revive IGP, but we need to lay low for a few days. Do not leave this house again until I give you permission.”
She laughed out loud. “My bullet. Even through the worst of my illness, I managed to hang on to that particular trump card, didn’t I?”
His answering smile was a hypnotic contradiction to the evil that lurked within. “You were very stubborn,” he agreed, “but I finally allowed you some leeway.”
As if she should be grateful. “Because you found something more valuable to you than the bullet,” she said softly. Revenge! Screamed the voice in her head.
“Because we worked well together,” he countered with patience, “at least until I realized your motive was no longer in sync with mine.”
Rena bled faux sympathy into her expression. “That’s what happens when you fuck with chemistry. You should know better.”
Rafferty was unmoving in his quest to keep her contained, though his forefinger traced the outline of her collarbone beneath the zippered opening. “I admit, I didn’t know enough about your illness to handle it properly.”
“You could have asked Sophie.” She cocked her head, tolerating his touch only because she knew it wouldn’t last much longer. “But you didn’t want to do that, did you?”
His finger slid down the milky white cleft between her breasts, lowering the zipper in the process. “She asked me to handle you,” he answered, his full attention on the treasures he was exposing. “We did things my way.”
The first to break, Rena finally slapped his hand away and sneered, “Your way gained you nothing and cost me everything.”
A spark lit the one eye he had left, allowing its ruddy hues to dominate over the rich brown. “Oh, Rena.” It came out a guttural groan. “You excite me more than you’ll ever know.”
The evidence of it protruded rudely from his shorts. When she opened her mouth to speak, he grabbed her jaw in a painful vice.
“I want to claim that sweet pussy of yours now more than ever.”
His voice had taken on a desperate edge. Her body went cold, leaving her dizzy with fear. That pill needed to work fast.
“After I lost you,” he continued, “I never took another dark-haired woman. Not even your mother. Of course, she’d found a new toy in Bennett,” he added as an afterthought. The hold on her jaw eased. “But if you’re upset with me, you’ll be happy to know I paid for your arrest. Sophie had a way of punishing failure a man never fully recovers from.”
Why did the urge to throw up suddenly consume her? “I know,” Rena ground out in an attempt to keep him talking. “She demonstrated for me once. From what I’ve been told, I applied some of her tactics on our decoy.”
“Brett Lockton? He was your decoy, remember?”
He knew she didn’t. That was one advantage of her illness that had worked in his favor. The truth of it was easy enough to see in his derisive expression, but would do no good in a recording. If Isak was truly recording, that is. “I don’t remember,” she admitted quietly. “Without my medication, I slowly went under. You thought you could control me with your own drugs, but you didn’t know enough about my condition to do it right.”
Afraid she’d showed her hand too soon, Rena watched the light come on.
Rafferty gripped the arms of the chair. “Are you playing games with me, Rena?”
“Why?” she sneered before she could stop herself. “Are you scared?”
A slight tick appeared at his jawline. “Something tells me your agenda has changed once again.”
Yep. Time to switch tactics. “Amazing what the right medication can do.” Her foot came up in an attempt to emasculate him the good ole’ fashioned way. But Rafferty was operating at full capacity, powered by the drugs that made him almost superhuman. He deflected the direct blow and pulled her out of the chair by the ankles in one smooth move. She was now on the floor beneath him.
His teeth showed white above her. “For a split second, there, I thought you’d wizened up.”
But she was no longer in the mood for games. “I have. More than you know.”
“You’re the one on the bottom.” He ground his erection against the thin terrycloth between her legs. “Unless that was what you were aiming for, you were a fool to think I could be ambushed.”
Like a recurring nightmare, she found herself beneath him once again. The image she’d suffered through earlier expanded so that now she could recall the place where she’d nearly suffocated beneath his massive weight. The moon had been high, stars twinkling in the clear sky above. But where she and Elsa had once cast their dreams toward the heavens, the air lacked the warmth of summer. Instead, it carried the bite of winter’s chill.
Rena knew where they were even before the blindfold came off. When it did, a foreign sense of joy cut through the confusion that had become her constant. “This is my hilltop,” she said through a dreamy smile. “But, Elsa… she isn’t here.”
It wasn’t right without her sister.
Rafferty hooked a finger beneath her chin, raised her face to his. “That’s because it’s our hilltop now.”
His movements were methodical as he gently lowered her down. He removed her shoes, then reached beneath her thick skirt and pulled off her panties. “Open for me, Rena,” he crooned, unsnapping his trousers. “And from now on when you think of this place, I’ll be a part of it. Not Elsa.”
It was pointless to fight the inevitable. By then, she knew if he meant to have her, he would have her. As he took her body, she looked past him and focused on the stars. So many childish dreams were up there… unreachable beneath the weight of her captor’s oppression. In that moment, she let them go. In that moment, his domination became a standard thing. Acceptance took hold. He was her tutor and she his pupil.
With each thrust, he taught her something new about sex. It was to be taken, not shared. Forced upon without the consent of the other. Only then was it a reward worthy of having.
As the present reared its ugly head, Rena’s eyes widened with a dawning realization. Is that why she’d taken Ty against his will earlier that morning? Because it had been deep rooted into her psyche through Rafferty’s teachings?
The man was on top of her that very moment, about to dole out another lesson. The assault to her privates gained him a genuine hiss of discomfort. Having had sex with Ty numerous times in a matter of hours left her a bit tender. All she could hope was that the poison in Rafferty’s system would kick in soon.
Unless the pill wasn’t what Derek thought it was.
The possibility never crossed her mind until that moment. Her confidence began to waver and with it, her composure. Once again, she was a perfectly coherent victim. “Aren’t you forgetting something, Rafferty?” she breathed. His eyebrow rose in question. “You usually make sure I’m high before you assault me.”
Here was his chance to tell her the threat was now gone. He no longer needed to drug her because—thanks to her—Sophie wasn’t alive to punish him.
Instead, his lips pursed as if the accusation stung. “So, this is the reason for your attitude? You think I drugged you?”
He was going to deny it. Disgust took over every nerve in her body. “I know you did,” she said in a foreign voice.
“How can you? What’s to say you weren’t just mentally ill?”
“Because I remember needles going into my arm, you bastard!”
“Do you?”
Her laugh held a maniacal ring to it. “You must have been sweating bullets when I came out of prison completely sane. Wondering if I’d rememb
er how you raped me. Afraid I’d expose you to my mother.”
“Raped you?” Amusement deepened the lines around his eyes. “I never had to rape you, Rena. You’re a very sensual woman. You share the same need for physical pleasure as Sophie. When you needed me, I pleasured you quickly and often.”
Needed him! “And they say I’m the one who’s sick!” she screamed.
While she bucked beneath him, he lowered his mouth to her breasts. “Think about it,” he murmured as he took the zipper between his teeth and pulled it down further. “Deep down you know it’s true.” His lips on her skin were shockingly gentle and she stilled. “We grew very close during our nine months together. When you discovered your fiancé had moved on, I helped you through it.” With his chin, he lowered the lacy edge of her bra, finally exposing a dark nipple. He licked it, coating the nub with saliva. “I didn’t need to drug you, you came to me of your own free will.”
But it wasn’t true! “No!” she yelled, her fight coming back. “I won’t let you play with my head!”
He chuckled. “Shhh, calm down.”
No matter how hard she struggled, she couldn’t shed him or his touch.
With a wicked grin, Rafferty rose up enough to drink in the sight of her naked breast. Then he sat up completely, pinned her wrists beneath his knees, grabbed the open folds of her shirt and worked it down to expose her upper arms. As he scoped out the tracks left by Derek’s injections, he cooed, “It’ll be okay, just let me take care of you again.”
He was speaking to her like an insolent child and, despite the molestation, succeeding in making her feel like one. He shifted on top of her, but only when she saw the needle did the realization of what he was doing kick in. He’d kept it in the pocket of his shorts. Ready. Waiting for that perfect moment.
Panic of the worst sort set in. This wasn’t going the way she’d planned. Rafferty was supposed to confess, die, or both. He’d done neither, and now she was about to be drugged into submission again. No telling how long she’d be under this time. Hours? Days?
Years?
“No! Please!” To her horror, the helpless pleas escaped her mouth before she could stop them, reduced to begging as she had the first time he attacked her. Tears rolled down her cheeks. “Put it away,” she breathed, “I’ll do what you want!”
“Put what away?” Rafferty crooned calmly. “What’s wrong with you, Rena?”
She wanted to call out for Isak despite the fact she’d closed the basement door before coming down, but the words froze in her throat as the needle went deep into her arm. Paralyzed with dread, she watched helplessly as Rafferty’s thumb depressed the plunger, then slipped. When he tried to reposition it, his movements were awkward and clumsy. He frowned, abandoned the syringe to pump his fist a few times. Meanwhile, the clear plastic tube hung limply from her flesh.
Soon he was studying his other hand as his big chest began to rise and fall at a rapid rate. “What’s happening?” he growled.
Rena’s focus shifted from the syringe to his face. He wavered on top of her. Taking her chance, she yanked her hands out from under his knees and pushed hard. He toppled to the side. She pulled the needle from her arm and tossed it as if it burned her palm.
When Rafferty called for Isak, Rena’s drive peaked to a vengeful degree. The toxin had finally begun to take effect and she didn’t want Isak to discover what she’d done just yet. As Rafferty pulled himself toward the stairs, she scrambled on top of him, covered his mouth with her hand.
“Shhh.” Her eyes burned with sick humor. “We’re going to do things my way now.”
When she slowly moved her hand away, his expression was wrought with horror. “What have you done?” he whispered.
“What I should have done last night when I had the chance.”
“But you… you saved—”
“When you ordered me to slit that boy’s throat, I did it because he was a ghost. He had to die. It was hard, but then I imagined it was your throat, Rafferty, and the job became much easier.” While turmoil raged inside, Rena bestowed him with a soft, loving smile. “It’s better this way, though. No quick death for you.”
As she made a show of covering her breast and straightening her clothes, he squirmed on the floor. “What did you give me?”
Now that she was decent again, Rena settled into the crook of his arm and smoothed a hand over his chest. Her fingers tapped out a bored rhythm. “I don’t know much about it. Just that your body will slowly shut down.” She looked up at him. “Can you imagine? Completely paralyzed, awake, fully aware…. You look dead already, Rafferty. Anything can happen to you. You may even be buried alive before your heart stops.”
The worst kind of fear played upon his cursed face. “Ah, Rena… you—you really hate me that much?”
Hurt bled into his words. Rena lifted up, allowed her hair to fall over them both as she gazed at him in genuine wonder. “What did you expect?”
“Gratitude.”
She blinked, let out a small incredulous laugh. “Jokes. At a time like this.”
“I cared for you. Always… made sure you were safe in prison… because you were mine.”
Understanding dawned. “Really?” she gushed in a strange, high-pitched voice. “That’s so sweet. You wanted to keep me your own. Personal. Whore.” It ended slowly with a snarl.
Rafferty’s full mouth moved in answer, but nothing came out of it this time, proof that Sophie’s right-hand man was dying. Finally, the nightmares would be over and Rena’s long-fought struggle to escape them would end in bittersweet victory. Though it came at the price of her entire family, it was no small satisfaction knowing she’d stained her own hands with the blood of those who took them from her.
Now that Rafferty could only listen, Rena decided she would seize the moment for all it was worth. “By the way,” she said with a nasty lilt to her words, “IGP is gone. Your ghosts are gone. Killed by the same poison shutting you down right now.” She leaned in closer, almost nose to nose. “What took you and Sophie years to create, took my sister mere minutes to destroy. You. Lost.”
The struggle behind his flaccid features became apparent when his throat moved. A breathy noise escaped his lips. “You… lost… too.”
Those last three carefully-chosen words told her what she’d known all along. He knew damn well what she’d been after. Without his verbal admittance of drugging her, she would be locked away for most of her life. She may as well be lying next to him, taking her last insignificant breaths as his monstrous creation.
Because that’s exactly what she’d become.
Clouds covered the sun and the room dimmed. Rena rolled off of Rafferty’s prone body, stared at the floor joists and cobwebs overhead. The sample was no longer viable. Derek’s cure was lost. The carnage that had ruined so many lives could have been avoided if only Sophie knew she was chasing a rotted dream from the start.
A shaft of light entered through the window, faded a little, then came back brighter than ever. Rena followed the beam as it spotlighted her only option left in a patch of swirling dust.
The syringe.
Take it.
Rena shook her head, fought the strong compulsion that had her crawling across the floor. Whatever it contained would end her misery just like it had in the past. Even a temporary reprieve would be a blessing. After the pinch, the ensuing euphoria would wash her troubles and everything causing them completely away. Why shouldn’t she take it? She’d burned her bridges with the only living souls she cared about. Isak would shun her for killing Rafferty and eliminating his chance at clemency. Derek would hate her… may even kill her for her deception. And Ty….
The syringe was now in her hand. Ty’s image swam in front of it and suddenly Rena wanted nothing more than to be in his arms again. Feel his lips on her skin, washing the doubts away with his uncanny ability to reach her. He was right when he said their odd connection had scared her. From the moment she first laid eyes on him, she’d been in combat mode, ready t
o disprove the notion she’d need any man after what Rafferty had done to her.
But she’d left Ty in the lurch again. Stolen the bullet out of his pocket and virtually pissed all over his good intentions. If he still cared, it would only be to save his own skin. At least if he were smart.
Everyone would be better off if she were to wash up on shore somewhere with an eternal mystery surrounding her death. It was the coward’s way out, but a damn sight better than spending the rest of her life in a maximum-security psych ward.
Do it!
She hugged her knees, stared at it with a mixture of fascination and fear. Only the syringe and guiding voice existed while all else faded to black.
Take it….
CHAPTER 13
“Hey.” A warm hand tapped her cheek. “Wake up.”
Rena opened her eyes to find herself in close proximity with a familiar chest. The dim light seeping through the basement windows indicated a long time had passed. She blinked, shook the confusion from her head.
Ty gently removed the syringe from her slackened hold and held it up. With the plunger fully sheathed, it was notably empty. “Did you take this?”
With a groan, she burrowed into his warmth and ignored the question. His shirt still smelled like fabric softener, but with a subtle hint of sweat. Rena inhaled, filled her lungs with Ty. “What time is it?” she murmured.
He gently shook her. “Answer me, Rena. Did you take this?”
On a groan, she sat up, flattened her palms against her eyes, then peeked at what he held in front of her. “I don’t think so.” A small frown. “I don’t know….”
As soon as the fog began to lift, her first coherent thought was of Rafferty. Was that rank bastard son of Satan dead yet?
When she looked around it was to find the room strangely empty. No stiff corpse by the stairs, no water glass on the windowsill, no evidence of their fight…. Just her, a messy bed, and the empty syringe she’d been holding. Rena turned her arm, searched for an injection site other than the ones she knew she had.